Saturday, February 2, 2013

Dixie Diary 2: Checkered Allegiances

A
checkered block represents the heart of the Southern and Northern loyalties in
the Morgan family.

Photographer Andrew Lytle recorded

Baton Rouge's occupation.

Here, Union tents camped near the Morgans' houses.

Baton Rouge (white star) is on the Mississippi River

northwest of New Orleans

In spring, 1862, Baton Rouge
was at the center of a war zone with Union forces in charge and Confederate
General Beauregard threatening to retake the town. The family had split their
allegiances. Sarah's eldest brother Judge Philip Hicky Morgan was a Union supporter who left town. Two brothers, Gibbes and George, had
joined the Confederate Army and the youngest boy Jimmy was in the Confederate Navy.

James Morris Morgan was about

17 in 1862. He'd been a cadet at the

United States Naval

Academy when the war began.

Brother-in-law Richard Coulter Drum

was promoted to General after the War.

Sister Lavinia Morgan Drum, ten years older than Sarah, was married to a Captain in the United States Army, one who remained loyal to the Union. Lavinia and Captain Drum spent the Civil War in California.

With father and brother Henry dead and the others in the armed forces on opposing sides, the Morgan women---mother, sisters and sisters-in-law---were left in their homes, adjacent houses on Church Street. Should they stay in town and brave the coming battles or flee to a family
home in rural Greenwell Springs? Unpracticed in making important decisions, they felt unable to act.

From Sarah's diary:

June 4
1862, Baton Rouge

"Our
condition is desperate. [Confederate General] Beauregard is about attacking these Federals. They say
he is coming from Corinth,
and the fight will be in town. If true we are lost again. Starvation at
Greenwell, fever and bullets here, will put an end to us soon enough. There is
no refuge for us, no one to consult. Brother [Philip], whose judgment we rely on as
implicitly as we did on father's we hear has gone to New
York; there is no man in Louisiana
whose decision I would blindly abide by. Let us stay and die. We can only die
once; we can suffer a thousand deaths with suspense and uncertainty."

My comment is about a past civil war quilt from 2011, block 40 Order Number Eleven . The template file is not working and I wonder if there is a way to get that so I can make this block. Thank you so much for the great site . sewpatsy1@comcast.net